A report of dead baby dolphins in the sea near Primorsko has alarmed divers. According to the holder of national records in deep diving, Silvia Rashkova, the cause of the animals' death was poaching fishing nets.
She described what she saw as one of the saddest sights she had ever seen in her life. “This is a place where we often dive with divers. Just a week before the incident, there were an extremely large number of fishing nets there. Every year there are such nets, but this time they were removed later. There are still floats and ropes left”, Rashkova said.
According to her, the dead dolphins were found within a radius of about 30 m, at a depth of 17 m. According to Rashkova, small dolphins are particularly vulnerable when they fall into fishing nets. “It is rare to see and film so many dead dolphins in one place. However, this is not the first time. The bodies were preserved because of the thermocline in the Black Sea, where the temperature at this depth is about 12 degrees. If the cause of death was different, they would quickly surface and disappear”, she explained.
There are three species of dolphins in the Bulgarian Black Sea, the most common being the bottlenose dolphin. The young can reach speeds of between 15 and 35 km/h while hunting or playing, which increases the risk of hitting nets and getting entangled in them.
The national record holder in deep diving believes that it is possible that an entire herd fell victim. “I have seen many things in the depths, but fortunately most of them are beautiful. There is peace under the water, but fishing nets are nothing new. They are dangerous for both marine life and divers. In this case, the worrying thing is that they are so close to the shore”, Rashkova stressed.